On May 28 1961, an article appeared in the British press, causing great outrage. The article was called "The Forgotten Prisoners" and it author was the lawyer Peter Benenson. Benenson wanted to draw attention to political prisoners – people who are in prison because they hold different political opinions from the government or rulers of their country. Benenson hit a nerve. Many people were horrified by what they were reading. They wrote letters to the government, asking it to do more for political prisoners. That was the start of Amnesty International (AI). Only two months later, people in Germany also banded together and began to work as members of AI.
58 years later, this human rights organisation has more than a million members worldwide and is represented in more than 140 countries. But Amnesty International does not only champion prisoners. Its main demand is for human rights to be respected in every country and in every situation. These rights include the right to freedom of expression and fair trials, and the right to freedom from bodily and mental harm. AI has learnt from experience that the most successful strategy is to inform people about crisis situations and human rights abuses. For this reason, the organisation launches a large number of actions and campaigns each year. Thousands of protest letters, e-mails and faxes are sent to ruling authorities, and the press publishes press releases. In this way, the organisation puts pressure on governments to stop the injustices and abuses in their countries. Only the day before yesterday, Amnesty International published its annual report, in which human rights abuses in many countries were criticised.
You can learn how to support Amnesty International with friends or your school class on AI's website: www.amnesty.org
Tanja Hebenstreit / Christiane Toyka-Seid